The New York Clipper (August 1919)

THE NEW YORK CLIPPER August 6,1919. COMMUNITY SERVICE STARTING NEIGHBORH OOD TH EATRE CHAIN With Amsterdam and Central Opera Houses in Manhattan, Others, to the Number of 100, Will Be Established in Other Cities—War Camp Service Barking Idea at Present Five theatres in Greater New York and one hundred in the leading cities Of the United States, is the program outlined by the War Camp Gommnnity Service and the Community' Service, beginning in September. The houses in Manhattan will be the *™«*»ii?«m Opera Boose, now in operation; the Central Opera House, East Sixty-seventh street, and a negro theatre in the One Hundred and Thirty- fifth street section. In The Bronx, a house will be opened in the One Hundred and Forty-ninth street neighborhood and one in Brooklyn. One or two theatres in all of the larger cities throughout the country will also be operated. According to Marina McGuffey, who is at the bead of the entertainment depart- ment Of the War Camp Community Service, these places will be known aa theatre dabs. All of the entertainments to be supplied in these places will be under the direction and supervision of the most capable and experienced profes- sional stage directors and producers, At the present time, he has associated with him in this respect William 6. Stewart, stage director at the Hippodrome, who produced the Gilbert and Sullivan opera "Pinafore,'' that was presented at the Amsterdam Opera House last week with a cast of 300, including both professional and amateur performers. Francis Tyler, the light opera stage producer and director, is another aid, as is Wells Wat- son Ginn, a stock and motion picture producer and director. David Bispham is also associated with the project. In addition to these men, a score of prominent performers and producers have signified their willingness to place their services at the disposal of McGuffey. Under the auspices of the War Gamp Community Service, the project will be continued until January 1, 1020, when the Community Service- will take it in hand and cany on the work. At the present time, the entertainment is given to service men in uniform, ex- service men and their friends. However, in the future, after the army has been demobilized, the organization will cater to the "communities" in which their theatre clubs are located and afford those who de- sire all of the benefits of their theatre clubs. As Mr. McGuffey outlines the project, operas, light operas, musical comedies, dramatic and vaudeville shows will be presented. The talent to be used will be professional and volunteer entertainers. The: latter will be afforded the oppor- tunity of receiving training in their chosen branch of theatricals. Classes will be held each evening and, after each per- former has been sufficiently trained and rehearsed, he will be given his opportunity to appear at the community perform- ances. Another opportunity that will be a fea- ture of the plan of operation of the the- atre clnos. with respect to the style of show presented, will be the production and breaking in of musical shows and dramatic offerings written by authors whose work has not been given a hearing or showing by producing managers. All of the script these authors have will be submitted to McGuffey and, if it war- rants presentation, he will organize a company of professional and amateur talent for its presentation. He figures that, in this way, a great many unknown authors will be given an opportunity to have their plays and productions brought to the attention' of huge producers. A number of the foremost producers in Hew York have signified their willingness to co-operate with McGuffey in this respect. For this purpose, there are,, at present, each evening, rehearsing at the Amiter- ^tw ft pasj l aaSs sfsj aSssw wsstl M0 aspirants to the stage and, from this number, the members of the casts to present the plays chosen will be selected. The Co mmuni ty Service will also present standard plays, many of them to be chosen- from the library of recent productions. Should a production be unusually suc- cessful in the Greater New York district, the members will be afforded an oppor- tunity of presenting it in other cities on the community circuit. For these produc- tions, specially adapted producers will be sent on from New York, with a few pro- fessional artists who will assume the principal roles in the piece. The balance of the cast will, of course, be made up from the members of the local stock com- pany. Then, another project which will be- come an institution with the Community Service will be the staging of spectacles and- pageants. These are to. be presented four or five times during the year in each city and their type is to be similar. For these from 350 to 1,000 people are to be used. To properly stage and produce the var- ious offerings, a big scenic studio will be put into operation where all the scenic and lighting effects and properties will be assembled. All of the productions are to be made in duplicate and triplicate, and should there be a desire in any of the cities to produce a play or opera at the same time it is produced in another place they will have the identical mechanical and property equipment forwarded to them. From this production shop all of the mechanical necessities will be forth- coming and shipped with quick dispatch. After their use, they will be returned, touched up and placed in stock until needed again. A costume shop will also be established with several professional stage costumers in charge of the designing and manufac- ture of wardrobe. This shop will open toward the end of August, and it is in- tended that the warrobe for a dozen pro- ductions be started on at once. Until January 1, the appropriation for the establishment and conducting of these places will be made by the War Gamp Community Service, but when that organ- ization ceases .its financial responsibility, the Community Service will take up the financial obligations. All of the theatres that are to be; used will be obtained at a yearly rental, -under a leasing plan. Each biiilding or "theatre : club™ will have, besides the theatre auditorium, re- hearsal rooms, athletic equipment and gymnasiums, writing roams, a library and a canteen. These features win all he distinctive and separate from the theatre project, ■ EX-SOLDIERS TO HAVE WEEKLY "The Home Sector" is the name of a new weekly magazine that will be launched early in September. It will cater -editorially to "the new civilian," that is, to ex-soldiers, sailors and marines. The magazine, which will be published by the Mdgway Company, is to be edited by- Harold W. Ross, who was editor of "The Stars and Stripes," the newspaper of the A. E. F. His Staff wffl consist of those who were associated with him overseas and wffl include Alexander Woollcott, the theatrical critic: WaUy, the cartoonist; J. T. Winterich, Steward Emery, and others. JIMMY LESTER LOCKED UP Jimmy I/ester, otherwise known as Joseph Lionel Lozier, a stage director and producer of vaudeville acts, was locked up in the Raymond Street jail, Brooklyn, last week, by the sheriff, on the order of Supreme Court Justice AspinalL of Brook- lyn. This step was taken upon the plea of his wife that he was about to leave the country and she would be destitute. In the application filed with the court, the wife said that everything was pleasant between herself and her husband until a year ago, when he left for England. When he came back in April, however, she charged that he brought* a strange woman with him who received all his attention, he even refusing to return to bis home, the wife alleged. When she refused to get a divorce he said be would go to England again with the woman, the wife alleges, and, when he actually secured' his pass- ports, she appealed to the courts for protection. After being locked up, Lester com- municated with his attorney, Harry Saks Hechheimer, and bail was placed at $1,000. AL FIELD'S OPENS STRONG Mansfield, Ohio, Aug. 2.—Al G. Field's new minstrel show opened to big business here and is in many respects better than the company's offerings of previous years. The show could be classed as a musical comedy within a minstrel atmosphere. The biggest feature in the production is a burlesque operatic afterpiece entitled, "Scrambled Opera, While You Wait," with a trio of comedians, Billy Beard, Lasses White and Johnny Healy carrying off the principal honors. ' The comedy part of the program is re- plete with hits at the events of the day, and a caricature on present-day. prohibi- tion is a big mirth-provoker. Others in the cast are: Ed Ewald, Jimmy Cooper, Doran Brothers, Henri Newer, Sam Mounter, Jack Richards, Elton Crepeau, Billy Church, Pat Rogers, Lloyd Gflber and.Don Palmer. SET "COME ALONG" OPENING "Come Along,"'which wffl play the K. and E. houses for thirty Weeks under the direction of Herman A. Moss will open at Easton, Pa., on Aug. 18. Included in the cast, in addition to Harry Bulger, who has the,lead, are Eulalie Jensen, Carrie Per- kins, Georgette du Parque, Olga Brooks, 'Captain M. H. Biggs, Dan Dawson, Dan McNeil, John Neff, GaiUen Bogue, Sid Meyer and Edward MaUon. DOROTHY HIRSCH BREAKS ANKLE Dorothy Hirsch, manager of the vaude- ville department of The Morning Telegraph, 'slipped and fell while stepping from the pavement to the sidewalk in front of the Claridge last week and broke her ankle. Picked up by friends, she was taken to the Polyclinic Hospital, where the (''injured limb was placed"in a. plaster cast'and she was removed to-her home. There-she has been confined to'her bed ever since. FINAL GOULD DECREE ISSUED The final decree 1 'in the divorce .trouble Of Flo Lewis and Jay Gould was issued laat week when Harry S. Hechheimer. obtained ~ from the Supreme Court a final decree for Miss Lewis, his.client. 'She got the cus- ' tody of the two children. Both she and Gould, however, will be together in Herman TunbergVaot, "Chicken Chow Mein.". ESTABLISH A RECORD The company playing "Dp in Mabel's Boom" .at the El tinge is called the ideal organization of the Woods office, not a member of the cast having lodged a com- plaint or having had to be "called" for anything since the piece opened several months ago.-. ..." .-. ■:._. • GERMANS GETTING BUSY That four .separate groups of German individuals arc planning to present opera and plays in their native tongue during the coming season in various theatres throughout the city, became known early this week. Grete Meyer, the German actress who, before this country entered the war, was one of the featured players in the Irving Place Theatre Stock Company, has, it ia reported, leased Daly's Theatre, on Broad- ' way near Thirtieth street, where she plans to open early next Fall, presenting a rep- ertoire of plays in German. Her tenancy depends on the removal of a violation against the building which has been filed by the Building Department. Another group, consisting of Christian Rub, Hans Unterkircher, Ernest Mariow and Rudolph EybiBCh, all of whom were formerly connected with the Irving Place Theatre Stock Company, has practically completed negotiations with the present Jewish management of the Irving to take over that house, beginning next month, for a season of plays in the Ger- man language. The plan is for the Ger- man players to use the Irving during the first three or four days each week, the Yiddish players u*ing it the last three days in the week. Rudolph Christians and Dr. Otto Winter, both of whom have been asso- ciated with the Irving Place Theatre in the days before the war, the former as director and the hitter as business man- ager, are looking for a theatre in which they plan to present dramatic plays in German daring the coming season. They, it became known laat week, have been negotiating for the' Lexington Theatre. This house cannot be rented at this time because it has already been rented to a corporation organized for the purpose of presenting grand opera in German there during the coming season. This corporation is known as the Star Opera Company, and the principal organ- izers are Christian Rebhan, said to be the owner of a lunch room at 646 Sixth ave- nue, and Otto Goritz, former principal in the Metropolitan Opera Company. Their season of grand opera in German is scheduled to begin some time next month, and, already, they have deposited $1,500 with George Grundy, lessee of the Lexing- ton Theatre, as an earnest of their inten- tion to go through with their plans. They are also selling stock at $26 a share in the corporation organized . to . present grand opera at the Lexington. . It is quite probable that the Shuberta win be the first American producers to present a new play from the German, for they are reported to have commissioned Gustave Amberg, builder of the ..Irving Place Theatre, who sailed for Germany about two weeks ago, to acquire , German and Austrian plays for them. Amberg is scheduled to return from.Germany early next FalL ... "TAKE IT FROM ME" REOPENS A-dlantio Orrr, July 3L—"Take It from Me," the Joe Gaites show which was seen last spring at the Forty-fourth Street The- atre, New York,' opened here this week at the Globe, and has been well received. There have been several changes made in the cast since the show moved from New York, the most notable one being that of Zoe Barnetf s replacing Vera Michaelena in the leading role. The reft of the cast is as follows: Fred Hildebrand, Douglas Leavitt, the Gardiner Trio, Arline, Helen and Edgar, James Dyrenforth, Ruth Mary Lockwood, William Balfour and Alice Hills. MAY YOHE ENTERING FILMS Los Angeles. Cal., Aug. 4.—May Yohe, the former Lady Francis Hope, now the wife of Captain Andy Smuts, formerly of South Africa, has signed with one of the large local picture concerns to star in a big motion picture production. SUED FOR DIYORCE . Felix W. Bernhardt, of the Vaudeville .team of. Bernhardt and Duffy, was sued hut week for divorce, on the. grounds of desertion by Geraldine C. Bernhardt, The action was begun in Ohio and Bernhardt is putting in an answer through Harry Saks Hechheimer. * WILL KING OPENS NEW REVIEW San Francisco, Aug. L—Will King opened in his new review, "Sweet Pa- tootie" here last Sunday at the Casino, with the following cast: Will King, Lew Dunbar, Reece Gardner,' 'Arthur Van Slyke, Jack Wise, Harry Davis, Claire Stan-, Vera Ransdale, Honors Hamilton and Addle Beet.. = .',;. The vaudeville portion of the show con- sists of Toy Ling Foo, Monsieur Boila and Company,- Jones and Johnson, Three Span- ish Goldinis, Marshall and Kegel and Talbert and Fisher, ■/".;.-.'